By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
TALLAHASSEE | Representatives of the bishops of Florida hailed the Florida Supreme Court’s Jan. 18 decision that put an end to a lawsuit challenging the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
Also known as Step Up, for the organization that administers the scholarships, the program makes it possible for low-income parents to enroll their children in the private or parochial school of their choice.
“This has been a long time coming as we have been monitoring ‘McCall vs. Scott’ ever since it was filed in 2014,” wrote James Herzog, associate director for education for the Florida Conference of Bishops, in an email to the state’s diocesan schools superintendents.
Herzog said the program “remains very important to our schools as we are currently serving 16,430 FTC students statewide — a number which reflects 19 percent of our Pre-K to 12th grade enrollment statewide.”
Archbishop Thomas Wenski weighed in on the decision on his Facebook page:
“Florida Supreme Court in McCall vs Scott delivered great news in a decisive 4-1 decision upholding tax credit scholarships. These scholarships help nearly 98,000 low-income and working-class children pay private-school tuition. About 25 percent of beneficiaries live in South Florida. The suit was brought by the teachers’ union and others alleging that these scholarships hurt public education. Thankfully, the Supreme Court disagreed. As the late Al Shanker and one-time president of United Federation of Teachers reportedly said, ‘When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.’”
According to an article in www.redefinedonline.org, a publication of Step Up for Students, the decision “leaves in place an August ruling by the First District Court of Appeal, which found the statewide teachers union and other groups behind the suit did not have standing to bring the case.”
The article continued: “Lawyers for the Florida Education Association and other groups had argued the scholarship program steered money to private religious schools, and violated a provision in the state constitution that mandates a ‘uniform’ public school system. The scholarships, they contended, were similar to school vouchers the high court struck down in 2006.
“Trial and appellate courts both dismissed the tax credit scholarship case after concluding the union and other groups backing it (including the NAACP and League of Women Voters) could not show the program harmed public schools.”
